Everworld: Intervention
by Redfield44
Summary: How would have Everworld have turned out if six more teenagers from Georgia had been thrown into the mix? A story pertaining to the adventure of myself and my friends in Everworld.
1. Note to Reader

First of all, I began writing this story, more or less, as a favor to my friends and as something fun. I began writing this a while back, so some of the writing is definitely not up to par, and I apologize for that.

I really just want to post this on the chance that someone else will find enjoyment in it. I am aware that there are a few Mary Sue moments, and that several parts simply don't do the series justice. However, like I said, I didn't go about this as seriously as I could have. In any case, I hope you enjoy this and post your thoughts.


	2. Chapter 1

**Everworld****: Intervention**

Reality. It's what keeps things in order – allows us to go on with our daily lives. Some people think that's overrated. That's why they write stories and make movies – fantasy lands that seem so very exciting compared to our boring, dull existence. Well, I'm here to tell you – after what I… we've… gone through – I'll take reality any day. We got to witness a world where the concept of reality means very, very, little. Sure, it was exciting, it was amazing – the single most amazing experience of my life, in fact. It was also the most deadly.

But I survived. I lived to tell about it. Everworld couldn't kill me. Not through lack of trying, I assure you. It was only because of them. They got me through it alive, they protected me, they helped me – they became a second family to me. My friends. They were living proof that good people and good things existed in bad places. This story is much about them as it is me…

**Chapter I**

Eli had gotten his license as well as a car from his parents. He was excited about it, and jumped at any chance he got to drive. Naturally, when I told him about the party, he agreed to meet me at my house and drive me there. That's what friends are for, right?

The party was at Brett's house. We arrived there at about 5:30 PM. Parties are supposed to be places of joy – a place to have fun and be happy. That's how this one started. Until the portal. And Fenrir.

Hours later, the gathering was coming to a close – only a few people were left – me, Eli, Brett, Kelsey, Libby, and Jayson. We sat in a circle in lawn chairs, chatting about whatever came to mind. That's when it happened – a sound like electricity, but amplified – a crackling sound. As I jumped in surprise, a feeling of dizziness and lightheadedness overwhelmed me. It was like I was very, very drunk.

That's when I glanced around. I looked at where Jayson had been sitting, and nearly yelled in surprise. Streaks of his skin color were swirling around him, and I could see his skeleton and muscles underneath. I raised my hand to my face. There was no skin. I could see my blood vessels pumping the red liquid. I heard Libby yelp in surprise and fear but the sound was far away – more like a distant echo. I called out to her, and my voice was no different.

That's when Fenrir appeared. Materialized right out from the middle of the portal. There was no mistaking him for anything other than a wolf. A wolf on steroids. His fur was black and dark gray, and there was intelligence beyond that of a canine behind his feral eyes. He was the size of an elephant. He stood, motionless, scanning each of us in turn. I was stunned, completely unable to move. Then, the wolf let out a growling bark, as if he was frustrated, and whipped around to run back through the portal's center and back to wherever it was he hailed from.

However, as he spun around, his tail collided with Libby, sending her back through the vortex. Jayson reached for her at the last second, grasping her hand. But the momentum was too much. He was pulled through with her. Into wherever the portal led.

"No!" Kelsey's voice rang out. She ran towards the portal to help in whatever way she could, but the beast snapped his head towards her, growling fiercely. Kelsey stopped short and assumed a defensive posture, facing the wolf carefully.

"C'mon!" Brett's voice now. He called to Eli and me and actually ran towards the creature, yelling threateningly while waving his arms. I looked to Eli, and then followed suit. I doubt the immense animal saw us as a threat, maybe as slightly more trouble than we were worth, but nonetheless, it retreated back through after Jayson and Libby. Kelsey took a step towards the portal.

"Kelsey…" I called out. I didn't know what to say. What _could_ I say? She turned to face us, nodded, and then hesitantly and slowly stepped through.

Brett was next. He looked at me and Eli then shrugged and jogged in. Now it was my turn. Step. My heartbeat picked up. Step. I began to step through, when I was grabbed from behind – it was Eli. He pulled me back, away from the portal.

"Let me go! I gotta go! Those are my _friends_! We've got to help 'em."

Eli shook his head, "I know, I know. But you saw that wolf. What if there're more like it on the other side? We're going through that portal. I just want to go through it prepared."

"It could be closed by the time we get back."

He looked at me seriously. "That's a chance we'll have to take. We'd better hurry then, huh?"

Instantly, I knew what he meant. We ran back, away from the portal – the world returning to its normal hues and dimensions – no seeing through people. The two of us climbed into Eli's car and raced to our respective houses, loading up on everything – all the essentials. There was no logical thought involved. Maybe, deep down, we both though this was all a dream. And were just along for the ride.

Regardless of whether or not this was a dream, we wanted to be prepared and ready for anything. At his house, my friend grabbed his AR-15 rifle and several magazines for it. He also dressed out in full tactical gear. Multicam fatigues, kneepads – a vest. At my house, I did the same – a digital camouflage jacket, my Airsoft vest – I wasn't going unarmed, though. From the closet, hidden from view, I took my dad's pistols – a 9mm Makarov and a .22 revolver, as well as all of the ammunition that we had. Just in case, I also grabbed my sister's stun gun, two collapsible metal batons, a marine KA-BAR knife, and several other blades. Neither of our families was home, luckily for us – we'd have a lot of explaining to do.

When we arrived back at Brett's house and raced to the backyard – the portal was still barely open. We raised our weapons and walked towards the vortex. Right before taking the last step through, I stopped, and looked over to my best friend.

"Eli."

"Yeah?"

"This isn't a dream, is it?"

"I don't think so, Jon."

"Damn." I stepped through, and all went black.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

I came to, desperately hoping that I was waking up in my bed, and that the past events were simply a dream. No such luck. I was standing on rocky terrain, weapon still in hand. The surrounding area was foggy. I looked around for my friends. Eli was right next to me, and the others were sitting down in a gathering of trees about twenty yards away. We walked towards them.

"Oh, nice of you two to drop in… Took you long enough." Brett saw us approaching and spoke up – his voice was predictably sarcastic. His eyes went wide with surprise when he saw our "preparations".

"Yeah, smartass, after seeing Wolfzilla, we kinda wanted to head in here with something more than our fists. You should be happy we came prepared," Eli shot back.

"You two look like you're about to head into 'Nam!" Jayson now, commenting on our outfits. 'Nam was a long-standing joke that he always teased me about – a bad experience on Airsoft field years back.

"Don't start that again," I warned.

There was a long silence. We were all here, but we were utterly clueless.

"Well, I'm pretty sure we're not all dreaming, so what now?" Libby asked, speaking out to the entire group of us.

"I'd like to find out what this place is… and how to get back, if we can," Kelsey replied.

"I'm good with that," I agreed.

Jayson stood up, "Sounds good," he said.

Eli spoke up, "Alright, me and Jon packed some supplies. Water, food – the works. I guess we should head in that direction," he turned and pointed behind the two of us – large shapes were barely recognizable through the fog – I could've swore they looked like structures, but I wasn't sure.

Everyone agreed, and after a few seconds, we were all moving – a group of completely bewildered, confused, and clueless teenagers in an unknown land. It still hadn't hit us yet – in my heart, I was still desperately hoping this was all a dream. I tried to think rationally, but couldn't. There was no coming to terms with this. Until we saw them – Loki's trolls.

One look at them and you _knew_ that they weren't any creature of Earth. They're about the same height as an average man, some taller, some shorter. Their skin is gray and rough, and very tough – like that of a rhino. They have a hump at the top of their back, and no neck – their crude, misshapen head protrudes directly forward from the hump, so from behind they look headless. They have a very muscular physique – you could tell their raw power just by looking at them. Not to mention, these trolls were armed.

We spotted a group of them hauling what seemed to be a chained group of people – people like us, into the castle. They were about forty yards in front of us, and were turned in the other direction. They didn't see us. As soon as we spotted them, however, Eli let out a harsh whisper for everyone to drop to the ground and remain still. I knew the drill and complied, reaching for my pistol. Our de facto leader was kneeling to my right, his rifle raised to his shoulder, steadied and aimed in the direction of the group. The others were behind us, crouched low, waiting for the all clear while watching the trolls with fear and grim fascination.

"What the hell are those things?" Jayson muttered the question quietly.

"They look like… trolls," Kelsey replied slowly.

I nodded in agreement, but never took my eyes off the creatures. They moved off, into the castle which was now much closer, and after a few seconds, we were alone once again in the fog.

"Whatever they were, they didn't look friendly," Eli commented.

"Did you notice their prisoners?" I asked the group.

"Yeah, how could we miss them? I mean, those troll things were kinda distracting, but…" That was Brett's sarcasm at work again.

"That's not what I mean. Did you notice how they looked? They were wearing T-shirts, blue jeans, and I could've swore I saw a couple of 'em wearing tennis shoes."

That got their attention.

"So there are more people like us here?" Libby asked hopefully.

"That would be my guess. If there are, we might want to start thinking about how we go about rescuing them," I didn't know what I was talking about, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Brett obviously didn't agree, "Hell no! You saw those things! I am _not_ gonna walk into that creepy old castle filled with trolls just to try and save a few people that_ might_ be like us."

I shrugged. "It's not up to me."

We looked at each other, and then to Eli, who seemed to have taken on the role of leader.

"How 'bout it, Delta?" I asked him.

"Uh-uh. Don't lay this one on me."

Kelsey interrupted, "Fine, we'll take a vote. All those in favor of going in and trying to get those people out?"

Kelsey raised her hand, followed by Libby and Jayson. It was down to me, Brett, and Eli. I knew Brett wouldn't vote… so I looked to Eli, and we both knew what we had to do.

"OK," he said.

"OK," I agreed.

Eli stood up, and checked his weapon. "No man left behind, Semper Fi – all that good stuff. Let's go get this thing done…"

Brett groaned, "You've _got_ to be kidding me…"

The search and rescue mission was underway.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

The S&R mission turned out to be… problematic. There was no other route into the castle except for the front entrance – the same entrance that the trolls transporting the prisoners had entered. We decided that we'd enter the same entrance, and if we got caught (very likely), we'd think of something. It was the most half-assed plan I'd ever heard of, but it was what it was. We were desperate.

So, hesitantly, we took steps which would end up entangling us in the affairs of a world that was not our own.

We didn't make it far through the gate before being noticed. I quickly examined our surroundings. It was a courtyard – training dummies were set up here and there, and men, actual humans, were drilling. I don't mean drilling for oil or anything – I'm talking combat drills. With a yell, they would launch an attack at their respective dummy with their weapon, whether it was a sword, spear, axe, or hammer. Others were practicing archery. They were dressed like, I kid you not – Vikings. Freaking Norsemen. They wore chainmail, helmets, and furs, had long hair and were obviously not very hygienic.

Also scattered around the courtyard were more of the trolls. I'm not gonna lie to you – they scared the crap out of me.

Yes, we stepped into the castle and observed all of this. And not long after, when that first Viking absentmindedly looked over his shoulder and spotted the six of us, prompting him to call out to his comrades; we were the ones being observed. By a courtyard full of armed and dangerous creatures, no less. I don't think the thought of fight or flight crossed any of our minds. We just stood there, dumbfounded.

What I'm guessing was a Viking officer approached. He was tall, muscle-bound, and dressed more finely than most of the Norsemen in the courtyard.

"You there! What business do you have in the lands of Great Loki? Speak quickly!"

Panicked, we looked at one another. Jayson spoke up first.

"We're… salesmen."

Kelsey agreed, "Yes, we're vendors! We'd like to sell you some goods if that's alright."

The Viking smirked. "And what is it, my fair 'vendors', that you sell?"

We were stumped at that one. Our interrogator was about to speak again, but he then took a longer look at us, and then thought for a moment. An expression of worry flashed across his face.

"Old Worlders," he said softly, as if he recognized us. "Seize them! Take them to Great Loki!"

Before we knew it, we were surrounded. There was nothing to be done. We cooperated, and were led across the courtyard by an escort of armed guards, both trolls and Vikings, past a large pit in the center. I wondered what was down there, but decided I'd rather not ask.

We were marched into a large tower, the main structure in the castle. Perhaps large is an understatement. The tower was _huge_ – very, very tall. I don't know how many stairs and walkways we had to ascend. Finally, we reached a long corridor lit with torches every few feet. Further down, in the middle of this hallway was a door, which was at least a good twelve feet tall and eight feet wide. Our escort stopped us here without explanation.

Silently, we waited outside the door for several seconds. After a few moments, it creaked open. Out marched another escort of guards, followed by the same group of prisoners we'd seen earlier. My heart jumped when I saw them. They didn't look in our direction; their captors led them in the opposite direction down the corridor.

Libby called out to them, "Hey!"

One of them whirled around to face the voice. He wasn't very tall, with dark hair, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, but he was definitely older than us. All of his friends followed his lead, turning and spotting us.

Aside from the first one, there were two other boys – one was tall, with dark blonde hair and a surfer-guy look to him. The other was black, also tall, and very skinny. The last was the only girl in the group – even in the scarce lighting of the corridor, I could tell that she was beautiful. She had flowing red hair, green eyes, and a kind face.

The guards noticed the disturbance, and a Viking raised his hand threateningly at Libby, since she had been the one to get their attention. Eli and Brett took a step between them, and Jayson moved defensively in front of her. After a few tense seconds, the guard thought better of it, and backed down. The other group of teenagers had already moved on down the corridor – there was nothing we could do.

Reluctantly, at the heeding of our escort, we moved through the door and into the room the other group had exited. This room was huge – the ceiling was a good one-hundred fifty feet above us, not to mention the length and width of the room, which I couldn't begin to hazard a guess at. Arches adorned much of the huge hall. The architecture was truly something to marvel at.

Our guards pointed us in the right direction – down a red carpet that ended in front of a throne. Sitting in the throne was a figure. As we moved closer to him, he it became obvious that he wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination, even if some of his outward appearances made him appear so.

His face was that of a male model or actor – almost too perfect. Blond hair, a face that looked like it had been flawlessly constructed, a face that had been chiseled from marble. His teeth were straight and sparkling white. His body structure was athletic. He wore a green tunic made of some fine fabric.

Despite this, he was at least nine feet tall. An aura of greatness seemed to emanate from him – despite his charming appearance, he was evil. I knew this in my heart. Next to his throne lay the wolf. The very same wolf that had appeared in Brett's backyard.

As we approached the figure in the throne, we kneeled before we knew what was going on. It was practically an involuntary function – we were scared out of our minds by this immensely great and dangerous lord before us. To say he was imposing our intimidating would be an understatement.

He laughed as we knelt before him – the kind of snicker a villain in a movie might make. Then he spoke.

"Greetings, denizens of the Old World. I am Loki. I was hoping that you could help me with a problem…"

I couldn't believe it. We were being addressed the Norse god of chaos.

"What is it?" Brett asked fearfully.

"Quite simply I would like to find that which is mine. I wish to regain my witch. You would know her by the name 'Senna'."

The name didn't ring any bells – I'd never heard it, and apparently neither did any of my friends.

"Never heard of her," Jayson said.

Loki thought this over for a moment, and then slammed his fist down on the arm of his throne with a crash. I cringed. With a voice that grew rapidly angrier, he replied, "Then my son, Fenrir, was correct," he gestured to the huge canine. His body seemed to grow with his fury – the effect was subtle, but it was definitely there. "And you serve me no purpose. You have arrived here in Everworld by accident, mortals. Unfortunately, you will not have time to enjoy it."

I had no urge to fight whatsoever – I had two perfectly good firearms within arm's reach, but I didn't even consider trying to shoot Loki. I had even less of a desire to flee. After all, where would I go?

The god made a hand gesture to his guards, who quickly seized us, hauling us to our feet and dragging us from the room. I knew what was happening, as if Loki's final words to us hadn't made it clear enough – we were being marched to our execution. It was clear that my friends knew it as well. Their fearful expressions told the whole story. We were marched out the door and down the corridor after the other group. I wondered if they had been sentenced to the same fate.

To my surprise, we actually caught up with them – they were twenty yards in front of us. Their group was moving more slowly than we were. I wished that I could communicate with them, but I couldn't even talk to my own companions, much less the strangers ahead of us.

Then, it happened.

"NO!" With that yell, the dark-haired kid in front of us pulled a sword from the sheath of a nearby troll and chopped downward before its previous owner could react. The creature's arm was cloven off, and fell to the ground. To my amazement, it shattered upon hitting the ground – it had turned to stone mid-air. The stranger then jabbed the blade into the center of the troll's neck, and then pulled it out. Slowly, the troll's body did not fall, but instead turned to stone, beginning with the area surrounding the wound.

They weren't the only ones making good on their escape. Now it was our turn. Something, some survival instinct had been triggered inside of all of us. It was time to fight back. Eli moved first, tripping up the troll in front of him. The behemoth fell to the ground with a loud thud. My friend then brought his rifle to bear, aiming down at the troll. He hesitated for a second, and then pulled the trigger three times. My ears rang from the sound of the shots in the confined space. The living stone consumed the beast's body.

I was next. I jerked the Makarov out of its holster, clicked off the safety and jammed it into the back of the head of the troll that stood in front of me, all in one motion. I also hesitated. But not for long. I pulled the trigger twice, the pistol bucking in my hand, killing the beast. I wasn't sure how many enemies were left around me – I was acting on instinct, taking things as they came. I took a look to my left to see Kelsey. She brought her leg up to brace her foot against the back of a man in front of her. She reached for the hilt of his sheathed sword and grabbed it. She used her foot to push the guy forward, keeping her grip on the sword so that it came free while the Viking sprawled to the ground in front of her.

I quickly turned my attention to a Viking guard next to me. He began to draw his sword, but Brett moved in from the side, hitting the man with a vicious punch that caused him to stumble to the side. I had my reservations about simply killing this man. He was a human, after all – the trolls were another story. So, instead, I pulled out the stun gun. I clicked off the safety, jammed it into the Norseman's chest and pushed the button. A loud popping sound emanated from the device and blue sparks flew.

The guy jerked wildly as the spasms wracked his body and fell to the ground. Brett moved in behind him and wrapped his arm around his neck. A sleeper hold. Brett tightened his grip.

"Jon!"

I nodded, and stepped forward. Unsure of what to do, I actually began beating the guy over the head with my pistol, the impact of each blow reverberating through my arm. But he stayed conscious. He reached for a dagger on his belt.

"Jon, _shoot_ him!"

Brett took action into his own hands. He pulled my revolver from its holster, put it to the man's temple, and pulled the trigger. Another loud crack echoed, and the man stopped struggling. Pushing the image from my mind, not wanting to look at the corpse, I turned to see how others were faring. Kelsey had finished off her foe. And Libby had actually grabbed a dagger and plunged it into the leg of a Norseman while Jayson smashed him in the face with his guitar case. These guys, especially the trolls, were slow-witted. Luckily, that was the last of them. For now.

The group in front of us had done just as well. The tall guy motioned for us to follow them, "You guys, c'mon!"

Eli yelled, "Run! Just go!", and took off sprinting down the stone corridor. We followed closely behind the strangers – we were on the run, but now we weren't afraid to fight back. Now we knew what we could do. We weren't helpless. That was one of the few comforts we had as we ran deeper into the dark corridor and the unknown beyond it…


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV**

We ran for several minutes, our footfalls echoing off the dark walls that surrounded us. Torches lit every ten feet or so of space in the halls – the rest was nearly pitch-black.

I drew in deep breaths as we ran, my heart pounded in my chest – my adrenaline was still flowing. Our moment of courage was over. We weren't going to go storming back into Loki's throne room anytime soon. We just wanted out.

Finally, we came to a side passage off the main corridor, almost hidden from view. The other group entered, followed by us. Unfortunately, this side passage seemed to be a dead end. But the plan didn't seem to involve us moving away more just yet. I heard more footsteps, heavy ones, that of a sizeable group, pounding down the hallway after us. The leader of the other group, the one with the sword, made a signal to Eli for us to stay quiet, whom then nodded and passed on the order. I didn't need to be told twice. I hoped – prayed – that they wouldn't spot us in our hiding place.

That's when I noticed that one of us was missing. Not _us_, as in my friends, but one of the members of the other group. The girl. I looked out towards the main hall and saw her silhouetted form in the torchlight, just standing there. I panicked, but before anything could be done by anyone, the Vikings arrived.

I drew my pistol again, and looked to my companions. They were ready to run, or fight – whatever they needed to do to stay alive. Then, to my surprise, she actually began to yell to the Vikings!

"They've gone to murder Loki!" she screamed. "Stop them! Stop them! They've gone to murder Great Loki!" She even pointed in the direction we'd come from.

What the hell was she thinking? I thought about how quickly we could react, maybe get her out of harm's way. And yet it worked. The Norsemen actually turned, began yelling war cries, and went storming down the hall. All except for one – he seemed a bit more intelligent. He stood there, squinting, trying to get a good look at our distraction, unsure whether or not to follow his comrades. Expecting this one to be trouble, I clicked the safety off of my pistol and raised the weapon, lining up the sights and controlling my breathing. The shot wouldn't be necessary.

"What will happen if they reach Loki? His anger will be terrible! Do you want to be the_ last_ to defend him?"

That did it. He was out of there quicker than his buddies, yelling the entire way.

I let out a sigh of relief, put the safety back on, lowered my weapon, and jammed it into my holster. The girl had to have some kind of acting experience – I wouldn't have been able to pull that off in her position. She came walking back towards us.

To my side, I realized Eli had been aiming his weapon at the Viking as well. Everyone visibly relaxed and crowded around. It was time to talk.

"OK… what now?" the blonde guy asked.

The actress took initiative. She introduced herself and the others – her name was April, the leader of the other group was David, the skinny dark-skinned one was Jalil, and the surfer dude was Christopher. We returned with our names – even exchanged handshakes. That seemed a bit absurd to me – handshakes were just too casual for the present situation. Yet they were exchanged.

"So, how the hell did you guys get here? And where is here?" David asked.

"That wolf – Fenrir – popped up in my backyard with a portal. And uh--…" Brett started to explain.

David didn't need to hear the rest. He nodded and spoke, "Yeah, same wolf appeared at the lake and took Se--… one of our friends, and we followed 'em in."

Kelsey asked, "Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who did the wolf take?"

David seemed hesitant. "Senna. My girlfriend. April's sister."

"Half-sister," April interjected.

"Which leaves us with the question, where are we exactly?" Jalil asked.

"Loki called it 'Everworld'," April replied.

"Anyone else happen to notice the fact that these supposedly Norse guys are speaking English?"

Christopher butted in, "Jalil, did you happen to notice those scary-ass trolls or the huge wolf? Seems like we've got weirder things to worry about here."

I began to open my mouth about the fact that Loki had mentioned Senna, and indeed said she was a witch, but decided against it. It wasn't important at the moment.

"Well, now that social hour is over, we should probably evac. Like, right now," Eli asserted his leadership.

David gave him a glare, but then said, "You're right. Let's move."

With that, we moved out of the side passage and back into the main hall, heading in the opposite direction that the gullible Vikings had gone. We wanted to move quickly, but at the same time we tried to practice noise discipline. It wasn't enough – a group of Vikings spotted, or heard us, evident by the yells behind our group and gave chase. We began running again. We took a left around a corner and I slammed right into the back of Brett. Why weren't we moving?

That's when I looked around Brett to see a large, rectangular hole in the stone wall. Jalil, who was at the head of our group, must've had too much momentum and fallen through, and now he was hanging onto the wall. As I was taking this in, a booming voice called out, "FATHER! I HAVE FOUND THEM! THEY ARE HERE!"

That's when I took a closer look through the hole, and almost gasped at what I saw. A head. That's all it was. The head of a serpent. That's what filled the huge pit on the other side of the hole. Except for the fact that this head was huge. No – it was colossal. Its green, scaly head was at least as large as ten buses. And it had spoken... it was another of Loki's sons. It began to lift its head. It was going to eat Jalil!

I couldn't help. David, Christopher, and April were already hauling their friend out just as the snake's head slammed into the spot where he'd been. I turned my attention to the rapidly approaching Vikings who had been pursuing us, drawing my Makarov and clicking off the safety. The first that appeared from around the corner barely had a chance to let out a war cry before two of Eli's bullets struck him in the neck and upper torso – he went down hard. I expected for the next one to receive the same treatment, but those two magic words halted that possibility: "I'm jammed!"

I was up. Either I take the shot or one of my companions takes him on in hand-to-hand. I wasn't going to chance that. An untrained teenager versus an experienced, large, angry man who's probably been swinging an axe since he was four? Not a chance.

"I got it!" I called out, and gave the Viking a double-tap to the chest. The pistol bucked in my hands. He stumbled back against the wall behind him, with his own blood splattered on it, and put his hand to the two small holes in his chest, examining them. He had no idea what had just hit him. He reacted to this in anger. With a yell, he came charging again, despite his wounds, directly at me. I'd been the source of his pain, after all. I aimed my next shot carefully, even though my hands were shaking with adrenaline. Time seemed to slow down. For all I know, it really did in this odd place. I lined up the sights with ease and pulled the trigger. A hole appeared in the Viking's forehead and he went limp immediately, falling at my feet. I had just killed a man – but it didn't sink in. Not yet.

David was now at the front – he swung his sword at one of the aggressors, who easily parried with a laugh. Jalil helped out, brandishing a pocketknife, moving in from the side, and stabbing the Norseman in the hand, giving David the opportunity he needed to slash his opponent across the gut. That was the last one, as far as we knew, so we made an unspoken decision to move away from the giant snake in the pit behind us. We turned another corner… and ran right into two more Vikings.

Brett never stopped moving and caught one by surprise, executing something akin to a football tackle on him, followed by several vicious uppercuts. Kelsey began swinging her sword wildly at the next; keeping him at bay and driving him back. Then, Libby slipped in unnoticed by the defending Viking sent a punch flying right into the one spot no man, Viking or not, doesn't want to get hit. Consequently, the man was stunned, so Jayson moved in, elbowing him in the face to keep him from recovering.

"Move!" Kelsey yelled, and Jayson obliged, diving out of the way as she brought her blade in a horizontal motion, slicing the enemy across the throat. The entire encounter had occurred in seconds. And none of us gave it a second thought as we once again started to run, the sound of two Norsemen behind us.

We hit another dead end. And this time no acting tricks were going to save us. That's when April noticed a small shaft in the wall – a hole just large enough to crawl into. David quickly ordered us into the shaft. Jayson helped Libby in, and then crawled in himself. April, Jalil, and Christopher were next – I offered a helping hand. Brett wanted to stay and help out, but I convinced him to get moving. It was Kelsey's turn – I lifted her up and pushed her into the shaft, and then joined Eli and David, who had elected to cover the corridor while the others climbed in. The Vikings caught up, spotted us, and began approaching, so we yelled for the others to hurry. Eli and I assumed firing positions, and David readied his sword.

"Hey – you've got a sword, we've got guns. You're up."

"No, I got this – one of you go." Neither of us moved. "NOW! We don't have time for this!"

I glanced at Eli, nervous to take my eyes off the approaching Vikings.

"Delta, get your ass in there!"

"No, Jon – just go!"

"Damnit you two--!" David was cut off as one of the Vikings rushed us. Eli and I reacted, firing wildly at him and striking him several times. He fell in a bloody heap on the floor. I pulled out my stun gun and pushed the trigger, projecting the typical loud popping noise and blue sparks – the other was deterred by this display. I then went to climb into the hole, where Kelsey was waiting, yelling for me to hurry the hell up. I didn't need to be told twice. I holstered my weapons and climbed in – this time she offered a hand, and I took it, crawling inside.

"Thanks. Let's get moving."

She nodded slightly, and we started crawling, and I heard Eli and David crawl in behind us, as well as the sound of steel on steel. I couldn't turn around to see what was going on – I'm not the skinniest or most flexible person, and my gear didn't help matters any. Not to mention that I'm a tad claustrophobic. That's when I heard Libby's voice up ahead: "There's a gap! Just a big gap and a long fall!"

Great. Now we were trapped.

David yelled from behind me, "Just go! This guy's gonna kill me!"

As if on cue, another sound of steel weapons clanging together rang out and a sinister laugh of a Norseman. I drew my Makarov and tried to aim backwards, get a bead on the Viking. Not a chance. I couldn't even see past Eli, much less David behind him, to shoot the attacker.

Eli called up the line, "Just fall! It's our only choice!"

I was pushed from behind, and in turn I rammed into Kelsey in front of me, who pushed the person in front of her – like a chain reaction of Dominoes. We all slid forward, and I soon found the gap that they were talking about. I resisted the urge to scream as I fell out from the shaft and down… down… down…


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter V**

After a few seconds, I knew something wasn't right, even amidst the panic I was in. For one thing, I could clearly hear Christopher cursing like a sailor for several straight seconds – no hitting… whatever was below us. Speaking of that – what the hell was below us? I took a deep breath, and decided to look down. I felt an immediate sense of vertigo, but I maintained my composure. Water. An underground lake of some sort. We were falling slowly. Very. Freaking. Slowly.

After a few odd seconds, Jayson spoke up, "Well, this is awkward."

"No kidding," David replied.

"Here it comes…" Brett said.

What? I looked down just in time to smack into the surface of the water. Now gravity was as it should be – at least, as it should be when you're in water. In full tactical gear. I began to thrash, to panic. _No, Jon, don't panic. Calm down. Float. You can beat this. You just threw down with trolls and Vikings. Water's not gonna take your sorry ass down. _

Somehow my inner monologue worked. I calmed down a bit, realized what I needed to do. I began kicking lightly with my legs to keep my head up, and unzipped my vest. Instantly, it floated upwards onto the surface. I also slid off the backpack and simply held on to it with my hand. I floated for a few seconds and let myself calm down. Then, in a shaky voice, I called out: "Everybody okay?"

After a few seconds, everyone confirmed that they were alright.

"Everybody swim to that boat over there!" David yelled and pointed. I followed his gesture with my eyes and spotted a Viking boat, seemingly abandoned, about thirty-five yards away.

I'm not the most talented swimmer, I'll give you that, but by some miracle, I managed to haul myself over to the boat, and with some help, up and over the wooden railing into the vessel itself.

I just lay there on my back, soaking wet for a few moments. Then I sat up against a wooden bulkhead. David had plopped down on the deck like me, but unlike me, he had fallen asleep. Wow. Hey – I wasn't in any place to judge. Everyone was shaken up, and shivering, but no one looked wounded.

After a few moments, the three conscious members of the other group shook David awake. He came to with a gasp, and looked around with a surprised look on his face.

"How could you fall asleep at a time like this?" April asked accusingly.

"I had a dream, I think… I was in class," David said.

Christopher interrupted, "Man, your dreams suck. Who actually dreams about being in class? I mean, except Jalil," the last part was an obvious stab at Jalil's high intelligence and – some would say – know-it-all attitude.

Jalil shot him a cold look, and the conversation moved on. I laid my two firearms out on the wooden deck of the ship. It was a fair bet that they weren't waterproof. I popped the cylinder out of the revolver and laid the weapon down so as to let it air out. I then dismantled the Makarov so it could do the same. Eli field-stripped his carbine.

Apparently, our work drew the attention of the members of the other group. David was staring at Eli's rifle with interest, as well as desire, and I almost laughed.

David asked, "So, care to explain why you two came so… prepared?"

I don't think he meant to come off as offensive, but it sounded that way.

Before I could reply, Eli shot back at him, "Have you looked around lately? We just saved your asses back there."

I gave Eli a silent look, telling him to calm down. He simply went back to taking care of his weapon.

I turned my attention to David, who seemed dumbfounded at the way my friend snapped.

I spoke to him, "Let's just say we had a little more time to prepare than our friends here, or you guys, for that matter. After seeing Fenrir, we wanted to come in here ready for anything."

David and the others nodded. "M4?" he asked Eli.

Eli didn't look up as he replied, "AR-15 Sporter A2."

David nodded and looked to my weapons. He managed to identify my pistol as a 9mm, but I filled him in on the details of it. He thought the revolver was a .38, but I set him straight on that as well, trying not to sound like too much of a gun nut or know-it-all in the process. He noticed my jacket and asked if I was a USMC fan, which I confirmed. His dad was a Naval officer. The guy was obviously savvy in the ways of the military, as well as sailing. He and his friends lived near Lake Michigan, and we told them that we all hailed from Georgia.

This talking that we went through was our way of calming down, lowering the tension of the situation. An unspoken apology between David and Eli. All of us talked – about what Everworld was – how we were going to stay alive, everything – as we warmed up from the cold plunge into the water. As we talked, the boat glided across the surface of the water, moved by a slight current. At times, David set it in the right direction with one of the large oars that we'd found aboard.

As we turned a corner, we looked upon a village – a village here, in this cave. It had been built on a raised section of rock, well above the water. It had a functioning dock and several longboats milled around in the lake next to it. Standing on a platform that rose out of the water about thirty yards away from us was a Viking archer – who I guess acted as a lookout. He spotted us immediately.

"You there, aboard the boat! Who goes there?"

Eli let out a curse and jammed a magazine into his rifle, pulling the action back to ready it. I signaled for him not to shoot.

"Wait," I said sternly. Jayson and Kelsey had noticed something about this new Viking. His clothing and "uniform" were of different colors than the Vikings who we'd battled earlier. The shield fastened to his arm also bore a different design upon it. This wasn't to say he was our friend, or even that he wouldn't kill us, but the fact that he didn't seem to know who we were or that he hadn't tried to skewer one of us with an arrow (yet) seemed to be enough of a reason not to shoot him just yet. They quickly explained their reasoning. We needed a plan of action.

"Speak quickly!" The Viking was getting impatient, evident by the fact that he began to pull an arrow from his quiver.

Once again, April leapt into action.

"We're traveling minstrels! We mean you no harm!"

"Minstrels, eh?" the Viking asked suspiciously, "alright then, sing me a song."

An awkward silence passed among us for a few moments. In a barely audible voice, one that only we aboard the boat could hear, April said, "Just follow my lead."

With that, she began to sing a song. Her voice was as beautiful as she was. I couldn't make out all of the lyrics – I'd never heard the song before. It was something about Vikings trampling vineyards or some such. After a few moments, the rest of us joined in. I mostly mouthed the words – I'm not known for a spectacular singing voice. It was a pitiful display – a desperate attempt to not be discovered. There was no way he'd enjoy the song. Even as we sang, I pulled the slide back on my handgun without looking away from the Viking lookout. That's when our boat glided right up next to him. I couldn't believe what I saw. Tears were rolling down his cheeks.

In a small voice, he said, "Beautiful."

Thank you, April.

Our boat was docked and on shore we were introduced to a large, blond Norseman by the name of Thorolf. He had a deep, hearty voice. We were to be his responsibility until further notice. We walked through the village, a group of teenagers led by the first friendly Viking we'd laid eyes on so far. Other Norseman surrounded us – almost all were armed and armored, and I noticed that not all of them were Caucasian – there were Asian and black Vikings, as well. We passed by a blacksmith who was busily pounding out weapons, and we also passed multiple farming plots.

As we were passing a lot in which several women were rinsing clothes, Thorolf pointed at the one that seemed to be the leader.

"My wife," he explained. The woman was burly, with brown hair and a large physique. Jayson was obviously trying to stifle a laugh – that big Jayson grin appeared on his face, but Eli was quick enough to intervene with an elbow to the ribs.

"She's beautiful," April said politely.

Libby followed suit, "She looks… nice."

Thorolf nodded, "You minstrels will stay at my farm tonight. Great King Olaf Ironfoot requests your presence tomorrow,"

We were in no position to argue, so we nodded our understanding. Thorolf then led us through a forest at the edge of town. We walked for around a mile, then emerged from the woods, and it became obvious that we were no longer in an underground cavern – how was that? A full moon loomed overhead. We spotted what appeared to be a farm. Cattle grazed in a fenced pasture, and there was a barn to the right of a considerably-sized farmhouse.

"You will sleep with the horses tonight. Get much rest – you will need it for your audience with King Olaf tomorrow," our guide said.

We understood, and were led to the barn. Thorolf showed us several stalls near each other that were empty, save for piles of hay that covered the ground. He left us, and we decided to relax – not much else we could do, and these Vikings seemed friendly enough. I unzipped my vest and laid it with my weapons against the wall of the booth, unbuttoned by jacket, and took off my shoes. My feet instantly felt much better – after having them on for several hours that included a march through the forest and running for our lives, the relief was great. Eli, Kelsey, and Brett settled down in the same stall as me, Jayson and Libby took a stall on the other side of ours, and the four others took residence in the one across from us. The horses in the other booths didn't seem to be bothered by our presence.

Hesitantly, I stretched out and put my back against the wall behind me, resting my head. The ten of us chatted idly about our situation – none of the talk was crucial – just natural conversation-making. A few minutes later, Thorolf's wife entered. She brought us trays for dinner, and we thanked her. The meal consisted of simple rolls, beer, and bowls of water. My companions eagerly began grabbing the food.

"Ay, Brett!" I called out to him.

"Jon," he quickly looked up from the tray to toss me a roll and I caught it.

"Thanks, man." I said, and examined the thing. It was hard, brown, but it was food. We needed to keep our strength – and I was hungry. I took a bite, decided it wasn't bad, and ate the rest. As for drinks, we were cautious of the ale. Well, except for Brett and Christopher, that is. They both quickly gulped down a cup of the alcohol, and Christopher gladly drank everyone else's. The rest of us took to passing around the bowls of water to drink from them.

As we were finishing up, Thorolf entered. He saw our routine and laughed deeply and heartily. "You _must_ be minstrels indeed, making a joke by leaving the ale and drinking the cleaning water! Ha ha ha!"

We looked to one another and smiled uneasily. Somehow, I guessed these Vikings didn't exactly use water for drinking. That was what ale was for, as far as they were concerned. Thorolf took the now-empty dishes and left us for the night. I laid my head back against the wall and, after a while, closed my eyes. With time, sleep came.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter VI**

I gasped in surprise. New, but familiar sounds flooded my ears. People talking all around me. "Everlong" playing in my ears. I felt the vibrations of motion. I was sitting on a leather seat. I looked around me. People, windows – I was on the bus. What the hell? Had I dreamed that entire thing? I usually closed my eyes and rested on the bus , and I remembered doing so – but my mind was telling me that I hadn't fallen asleep. I'd been conscious for the entire bus ride, and this memory of my dream had hit me like a truck. But I must have dozed off – because that was all a _dream_, after all, and one cannot dream without being asleep.

I decided on another tactic. I thought about Brett's party. That would settle whether or not the whole thing had been a dream. That's when something weird happened – I remembered what had happened in my dream. How was that even possible? If that had just been a dream, then why was my mind making it seem so real, as if it were an actual memory. _Think, Jon._ I put my hand against my head. What in God's name was going on? This was definitely something to talk about with… anybody. My family. My shrink. Wait… I had an idea. I pulled my cell phone out of my book bag and hastily went to the Contact List and began dialing Eli's number. This would settle it once and for all. I never got to make the call.

I awoke with a start as I opened my eyes. Kelsey had shaken me awake.

"Kelsey…" I said.

"Shh. Look," she pointed out toward the pasture. I wondered whether or not I should grab one of my weapons. I decided against it – she didn't seem alarmed. To be honest, the look on her face was one of awe. I followed her gaze. Out in the pasture was a majestic creature – one of fairy tales, but now made real by this world we were in. It stood, bathed in moonlight with shimmering white fur, a toned, strong body, black eyes, and a long, sharp horn protruding from its head. I was looking at a unicorn. Despite myself, I smiled. After a little while, I leaned back into the stall and gestured for Kelsey to listen, not wanting to be too loud as to not wake the others still asleep.

"What happened when you fell asleep?"

She looked confused, "What?"

"Just bare with me."

"I haven't gone to sleep yet. Why are you asking?"

I lowered my eyes in deep thought, "I don't know… when I fell asleep, I had a dream, or something…" I looked back up at her, "Never mind. Get some rest, and maybe you'll see for yourself."

Kelsey was obviously still confused but she nodded, and settled back down. I looked around the wall again for the unicorn. It was gone. I shrugged, and laid back.

This time, I awoke at my computer. I was on Wikipedia – researching – guess who – Loki.

I stood and said to no one in particular, "Alright, time to settle this shit."

I threw open my closet and looked at the pegs hanging on the door. My camouflage jacket was missing. My vest was gone from the floor. I rummaged through my room, looking for my weapons. No dice. Only two things left. Growing increasingly frazzled, I nearly sprinted into my parents' room. With a few quick strides, I made it to the closet and jerked the door open. As I suspected – the top of the shelf where the pistols and ammo were kept was bare.

That was a very surreal experience, and it brought the whole thing home. I began to make a theory. Everworld was real – that much was all too obvious. It seemed that every time I fell asleep in Everworld, I, or my consciousness at least, was transferred to… here. Luckily, or unfortunately (I hadn't decided yet), another "me" seemed to be continue functioning here in the real world in the meantime, evident by the fact that I had memories of school that day. How convenient – now I wouldn't have to experience Math class – I could just pawn it off on my other self, while I'm off killing Vikings and pissing off gods.

Were the others experiencing the same thing? There was only one way to find out. I began to grab a cordless phone – this time I didn't even get to start dialing this time. Back to Everworld.

"Rise and shine, Judilia!" Jayson. Had to be. I hated that nickname he'd given me and he damn well knew it. Didn't stop him from using it, though.

I opened my eyes. Sure enough, he was standing over me. He stepped on my chest as a joke – that woke me up and then walked away with another grin on his face. Libby and Brett had been standing behind him – Brett apparently though Jayson's wake-up routine was funny. They helped me to my feet and I brushed the hay off my clothes.

As all ten of us gathered around for a group discussion, it was obvious that I wasn't the only one who had had a Twilight Zone experience. In fact, everyone did.

"So… go to sleep here and wake up back there?" That was Jalil laying it all out.

David replied, "Guess so, sure looks that way."

With that new discovery now confirmed, we had little to talk about. Not that we would've had enough time to discuss anything, because Thorolf entered to collect us for the walk back to the village. It was time for our meeting with Olaf Ironfoot.

We arrived at our destination about twenty minutes later – the Great Hall. Upon entering, I realized that this was pretty much the epitome of the Viking life. At least fifty large, tough-looking, burly men were crowded into the building, drinking, feasting, laughing – having a generally good time.

We stood there in the doorway awkwardly, waiting to be addressed. That's when he took his seat at the throne. Olaf Ironfoot. The guy was huge – pushing seven feet, a muscular build – and his armor contributed to that perception. He had more extravagant apparel than the others. He was also black – the Vikings obviously had no racial discrimination. I also saw that his surname was definitely not a misnomer. One of his feet was missing, in its place was a crude iron appendage.

With a stare that indicated he was sizing us up, the King spoke, immediately quieting the room, "So these are the ten 'minstrels' who sail into my village, the minstrels wanted so badly by Loki."

My heart nearly stopped with that last part – this guy knew who we were. We were screwed. As if on cue, three trolls entered the door behind us.

Olaf glanced at them sardonically, and his voice was filled with sarcasm, "To what do I owe the honor of three fine trolls in my village?"

The ringleader of the creatures stepped forward, "Great Loki has sent us. We are to find the ten who cause trouble and kill trolls." The thing spoke slowly, as if it had trouble forming the words. The troll then turned and spotted us, and, while pointing his crude finger at us, he continued, "Them. They are the ten."

Olaf shook his head, "No, those ten are minstrels, who have come to entertain myself and all of these fine men!"

With that last part, every Viking in the hall raised his mug and cheered.

The troll seemed confused. "No, those are the ones."

Olaf seemed to be getting perturbed, "Friend troll, I, Olaf Ironfoot, the one who, at the expense of a foot, slew a dragon whom will no longer plague an innocent village, give you my word that those are not the ten you are seeking. Now, be gone before I get angry."

The Vikings nodded in agreement with their lord's speech, and the unwelcome guests, despite their stupidity, seemed to catch the underlying message of: 'I threw down with a dragon, you ain't shit.'

"Yes, you are right. Those are not the ones. They must be elsewhere." With that, the hulking beasts filed out of the hall.

I was surprised by the fact that my hand was resting on the handle of my firearm. Already, these life-and-death experiences were changing me. I was developing combat instincts. I moved my hand away from the weapon as Brett spoke to Olaf:

"Why'd you cover for us?"

Olaf sneered, "We are in the service of that devious Loki, but we have no love for him. He holds Great Odin in imprisonment, and we have been tasked with a quest from Loki that will win Odin his freedom back."

That explained why these Vikings were different from those we'd seen, and killed, topside.

"What's the quest?" Jayson asked.

"You will know in time. For now, however, I demand a song."

We looked at one another awkwardly, and then stepped to the center of the hall. Jayson removed his guitar from its case and was regarded with curious eyes. April began the song, again. It was the same one she'd done for the lookout on the lake. Eventually, we all fell in tune. I'll say this: we weren't the most harmonious chorus, but our audience was _loving _it. They were especially interested in Jayson's guitar, which was underlining every note we sang.

At the end of the song, Thorolf whispered for us to repeat the water-drinking joke we'd done for him. If only he knew. So, not wanting to disappoint, we sat at an empty table, and ate some bread. I was sitting across from Brett. All ten of us grabbed a mug of ale at the same time, and I clinked glasses with him as we did so. Then, as we tipped the dish to drink from it, we instead poured it out on the floor and reached for a bowl of cleaning water and took a huge gulp.

The entire hall became a riot of laughter – some Vikings were literally crying. We repeated the same joke and song a few times before we were allowed to stop an hour later.

Olaf came over to us, "Minstrels – it was an excellent show! Most excellent. Now, to answer your question. We are tasked to sail across the sea and remove the head of Huitzilopochtli – god of the blood-drinking, heart-eating, Sun-Worshippers."

April was doubtful, "But he's a god – won't it be kind of hard to just lop of his head and be done with it?"

Olaf replied, "Oh, yes! It is very difficult indeed for a mortal to kill an immortal. Only another god or the weapon of one can do so with ease. Luckily for us, though Mighty Thor may be lost to us, his faithful hammer, Mjolnir, is not." The last part brought a grin of pride.

Jalil was the next to ask the king a question, "King Olaf, these Sun-Worshippers, do they have another name?"

Olaf nodded several times, "Yes, yes, of course! They have many other names: the Mexica, the Aztecs…"

Christopher interrupted, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're telling me you and your Vikings are about to board the boats, sail over and fight some Aztecs?"

The king nodded again, "Yes, indeed! And, minstrels, you will be coming with us."

_Uh-oh._


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII**

That night, we stayed in another barn. Hey, I'm not complaining. We talked our options over. Surprise, surprise – they were few in number. Truth be told, we only had one. And that was to follow the Vikings into battle… against the Aztecs. So, we bided our time, slept that night, did whatever needed to be done in the real world (I spent my time researching Aztec and Viking military tactics on Wikipedia and such – no harm in being prepared, right?). The next morning, with the Viking longboats loaded up with supplies and people (ourselves included), the ships set sail out of the underground cavern and into the open sea. David had gone below decks to grab an oar and help row. So, as our captain, who happened to be Thorolf, taunted the crew of the ship across from us jokingly, I found a quiet place to sit and think on the upcoming battle.

I tried to scour my brain for whatever I could remember about the two civilizations for some tactical insight.

At first glimpse, it would seem like an easy win for the Vikings. The Vikings were more advanced. They had an advantage in the way of weapons: iron axes, swords, and spears. Not to mention their bows. Their armor, if my memory served me, seemed to be mostly leather, but quite a few of them seemed to have iron chain-mail. Definite advantage there.

The Aztecs, on the other hand, were hundreds of years behind them in terms of technology. I imagined they'd be limited to spears, wooden shields, and maybe a few primitive blades made of stone. No armor. Although – the major fear I had of their forces was the atlatl – the spear-thrower. I'd read up on the weapons in social studies class over the years. Still, I was optimistic about the chances of the Vikings in the upcoming battle.

Until that is, I remembered the Aztec trump card, their god – the one we were being sent to kill – Huitzilopochtli. I'd read up a bit on him, too. He was the god of the sun and of war. Patron god of their capital city, Tenochtitlan. Although, I'd heard from some of the Vikings that the Everworld version of the city was "New Tenochtitlan". Obviously, it was the "god of war" part that worried me. Of course, we had a few wild cards of our own. Mainly Mjolnir and the firearms.

I shared this information with Eli. He was pretty cool about it – almost nonchalant. I wondered if he was just keeping that attitude up to keep all of us calm. Well, he had reason to be calm. He had a gun. And ammo. So did I. That fact helped a bit, but not enough.

So, the voyage continued. The girls had to stay in the wives' quarters. That's right. Apparently the Vikings believed in bringing their wives and girlfriends with them on the voyages. Now, I'm not going into any detail, but let's just say that the three of them had apparently seen a few things that they'd rather forget, and even been stepped on during the night, as some of the men slipped back into the quarters to… "meet" with their spouses. Ugh. Libby and Kelsey looked sick whenever I saw them now. I didn't envy their position. I'd stick to my sleeping spot on the deck. Sure, I was royally screwed one night when it rained, but I enjoyed storms nonetheless.

One night broke the monotony of the journey as David was interrogated by Olaf. Apparently, he'd slipped and revealed something to a Viking teenager – Sven Swordeater. This kid's name was quite literal, as well – someone had shoved a sword through both of his cheeks years back, leaving him with two scars.

The interrogation was a learning experience for us, as in my personal friends and I, as well. Apparently, David's group had seen some creature called a "Hetwan" in Loki's throne room before they left and we had entered. By the way they described it to the Viking king, it looked like a cross between a human and an insect. The Hetwan served some foul god known as Ka Anor. Even Loki thought Ka Anor was a very, very, bad person. Understandable. Why? Because Ka Anor _eats_ other gods.

I thought on that – I'd never heard of the Hetwan or Ka Anor before now, not in any section of the mythology of any civilization. I quickly found out why. The Hetwan were, in no uncertain terms, an alien race. They'd found Everworld somehow and invaded. Olaf Ironfoot was rather angry that Loki was dealing with the Hetwan.

We also decided to reveal that we were not minstrels, but were from the Old World. Olaf had already had his suspicions about that, so it didn't really come as a surprise to him. As a favor, he explained Everworld to us – the gesture was most welcomed.

From his description, it seems like all of the Father Gods (the supreme, ruling, god each civilization) joined to form Everworld thousands of years ago and brought human worshippers with them, because for whatever reason, the Old World didn't suit them anymore.

After Olaf was satisfied with information we'd given him, we allowed to leave. This was to be our last peaceful night – tomorrow, we would reach New Tenochtitlan and battle would be joined. That night, I got little sleep. When I finally _did_ sleep, I didn't do much in the real world. It's hard to focus on school and such when you're about to mount up and (hopefully) go kick some Aztec ass. I'm a war buff, for sure. No doubt about it. Doesn't mean I'm interested in being a soldier.

Eli, on the other hand, was handling the situation better. He'd been planning on joining the military for years. The next morning, he'd joked with me, saying that the upcoming battle would be good practice for a future Delta Force operator. He cracked a few jokes about shooting Mexicans, as well. I don't know. I was only half-listening. I appreciated the effort Eli was making, and having him covering my back was a major boost to my morale. I found it odd that the voyage had only taken a few days – even with the more advanced ships used by Columbus and the like, the trip would've taken a month or two. Obviously, the geography of Everworld was quite different from that of the real world.

The Viking lookout spotted land. This was it. We were closing in. I went below decks with Jalil, Christopher, and Eli to the bench where David was rowing. He'd already attained a Viking sword.

"This is it," he said, almost excitedly. He was really enjoying this, wasn't he?

"David, I don't like your tone. _We're_ the ones attacking those people, remember? We're trying to kill their god. Besides, you're not a Viking," Jalil replied.

David looked Jalil in the eye and said, "Question, Jalil. Those Aztecs – you think they're going to know that we're not Vikings? You think they'll hesitate to kill us?"

Jalil thought that over, then bit his lip. "Screw it. If I'm going down, I'm inflicting some pain first." With that, he grabbed a sword from a nearby table and passed one to Christopher, who looked rather dubious.

"Wait a second," I said. "Rules of engagement: Don't fire unless fired upon. Well… don't attack unless we're _directly_ attacked first."

Eli nodded his head, "Yeah. We'll stick together, hang out at the back, behind the Vikings. Let's keep our allies between us and them. We don't make a move on them unless they come at us. If they do, you stay the hell away. Me and Jon will mop up any who get through the Viking lines with fire. Got it?"

David thought it over for a second and nodded hesitantly. Jalil saw the plan as perfectly logical, and Christopher was content to stay as far away as the fighting as possible. The girls wouldn't be fighting. The Vikings made sure of that – they had strict rules about it. Kelsey had stated, in no uncertain terms, what she thought of those rules, but we'd convinced her to stay. I knew she'd much rather be helping us, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On one hand, the more people I've got with me, the better. Another to watch my back. I would've trusted Kelsey, or any of my friends, with my life. On the other hand, the less people out there, the better. I didn't want to see any of my friends getting hurt. Who knew what would happen if we died in Everworld? Libby especially wanted to be out there with us, fighting at Jayson's side. He was happy for her to stay safe aboard the ships, though.

With that settled, I checked my weapons one last time. I said a prayer for the first time in a while as all warriors were called to the top deck. It was time. Moments later, I stood near the railing of the ship, getting ready for what was to come. Eli appeared beside me.

"How you holding up?" he asked.

"Heh. Not bad. I'd rather be deploying with a company of Marines at my back, but these guys'll do."

He chuckled. "Just stick to the plan."

I nodded as the ship pulled up within a few hundred feet of the Aztec defenses. The city of New Tenochtitlan was truly something to marvel at: the buildings were just like the kinds you saw in history books or on the Discovery channel. Pyramids and all. There was one that dwarfed every other structure in the city – the thing was colossal. I couldn't even hazard a guess at its size. I could, however, make a fair bet at who was waiting at the top.

A voice yelled out among the others, "Archers! Make ready!"

With that, the Vikings right at the railing of all the boats notched arrows and aimed their bows carefully.

"Release arrows!"


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter VIII**

The twang of many bowstrings was heard, and the volley of projectiles flew towards the city, striking several Aztec guards atop a wall. _First blood goes to us_, I thought. The ship was rocked as the vessel ran ashore. The seven of us stood aside as the Vikes rushed past and leapt from the boat, landing on the beach and charging the Aztecs, yelling war cries all the way. I spotted hordes of Aztec warriors pouring out of the city to intercept the Vikings.

We "minstrels" were the last warriors aboard the ship now. Eli began to restate the plan: "Alright, just stay back and—"

Out of nowhere, David dove from the boat, hit the sand, drew his sword, and charged after the Vikings, yelling. Macho son of a bitch. Jalil and Christopher, being his friends, followed him, trying to save him, I guess.

Eli cursed loudly and called out to the rest of us, "I guess it's up to us to go rescue them, eh?" Brett and Jayson looked at each other and I nodded to Eli.

My friend cocked his weapon. "Then let's do this."

In unison, we leapt from the boat and I hit the sand, my tennis shoes sinking into the soft sand. I whipped the Makarov from its holster and turned the safety off. Eli was scanning the beach ahead with his rifle. Brett and Jayson landed behind us. Brett had grabbed a Viking bow – he'd learned how to use a bow-and-arrow quite effectively from a relative of his. He was also a black belt in Karate – that would come in handy if the bad guys got too close. Jayson had grabbed a Viking spear and was holding it at the ready.

With that, we started off at a steady pace towards the battle raging fifty yards away. Yells, as well as screams of pain were heard, along with the sound of weapons on armor, not to mention weapons on flesh.

"Right there!" Jayson pointed out Christopher in the crowd, engaged with the Aztecs. We watched as he dodged a spear thrust and sliced downwards, splitting a hole in the attacker's scalp. But as the Aztec was going down, his arm swung wildly, and the crude handle of his spear struck Christopher on head, knocking him over.

"We're pulling him out of there! Jon, still got those smoke-bombs?"

Smoke-bombs. Another thing we'd brought over from the real world.

"Yeah! Wait a sec!" I rummaged through my pack and found three small tubes. I handed one to Jayson, one to Brett, and kept one for myself. Using a lighter, I lit all three of them as quick as possible. We ran forward and hurled the things with as much force as we could muster. Our aim was true – the bombs landed right between Christopher and the fighters. A thick, multi-colored fog puffed out. Aztecs and Vikings alike balked at the sight of the billowing smoke. Then they dismissed it from their minds and resumed battling.

We'd already made our move. Eli's laser-sight danced through the smoke-screen as he kept his weapon raised on approach, and we made our way to Christopher. One Aztec rushed through the fog. A red dot appeared on his bare chest, followed by two-bullets – courtesy of a double-tap by Eli. The rifle rounds tore half dollar-sized holes in the attacker, blowing red mist out of his back and eliciting a scream of pain. The sound of the carbine wasn't as unpleasant in the open as it had been in the tunnels of Loki, but it was still _loud_.

"Cover me!" Eli yelled as he knelt down beside Christopher. As he was checking him over, more Aztecs rushed us. This time it was an entire group. At least fifteen. I didn't hesitate this time, not like I had with the Vikings in Loki's castle. I brought the Makarov up and fired several, quick shots, unloading the magazine. I made hits, but not enough. Eli saw the attackers, and reached into his pack, which he'd set beside him. In one quick motion, he withdrew from it a revolver that made mine look like a toy. It was black, definitely a .357, with a 4-inch barrel. My friend had been holding out.

He brought the beast of a weapon to bear and lined up the sights, delivering six high-powered slugs into the approaching enemies, shattering bone and causing body tissue to explode from the impacts. The roar of the weapon being fired was terrible. He wasn't entirely ready for the recoil, though. His hands rose wildly with each shot.

Our volley of shots had dropped eleven of them. It was in that moment that the one inherent weakness of firearms came to bite us in the ass: ammunition. We'd both emptied our pistols, and there were still bad guys coming at us. Not a good situation. Eli tried to grab his carbine, but there was no time. By the time he'd grabbed the gun from the ground, an Aztec warrior was standing over him, sword raised high in the air. One second was that horrifying image, the next second had the same Aztec with the shaft of a spear protruding from his chest, point embedded deeply into his heart. At the other end of the spear was Jayson. He'd jumped in and probably saved Eli's life. Christopher then sat up, grabbed his sword, and jammed it upwards into the Aztec's gut, finishing him off.

Now I had to deal with the very angry one charging _me_. I dropped my Makarov, and pulled out two other weapons: the old .22 revolver and my baton. The Aztec stopped, and sized me up. A flick of my wrist, and the baton extended with a very satisfying sound. The Aztec saw this, and was slightly puzzled. Then he yelled and rushed me.

I pulled off a snap-shot with the .22 – basically whipping the weapon upwards and firing a single shot while simultaneously diving to the side. My bullet struck him somewhere in the torso. He barely noticed – .22 caliber rounds are tiny. I might as well try to tickle the guy to death. He attacked again, bringing his crude obsidian blade down. I was on the ground after diving, so I dropped the .22 and brought the baton up, bracing it with both hands as the blade struck the heavy-duty aluminum of my weapon. I heard a loud crackling sound – his blade had nearly shattered from the impact. Couldn't say I was surprised – it wasn't even metal, just a wood shaft with a bunch of sharp shards of stone attached to it, while the baton I was wielding was constructed from steel.

Now was my chance. I reached down to my belt and removed the stun gun. Clicking it on, I jammed it into the guy's mid-chest as his blade was still against my baton. I pushed the initiator button, and the loud pops and blue sparks ensued. The Aztec yelled and instantly went limp, falling to my side. As he fell, I jumped to my feet and immediately stomped on his ankle, making sure he stayed down. I then proceeded to swing the baton at his back several times, quick, whipping actions, using the flick of my wrist each time. He went out cold under this flurry.

Through the entire encounter, I was completely in the battle – no remorse, nothing. I'd lost it. I stopped beating my opponent and turned to see the final Aztec rushing towards me, yelling wildly. I nearly dropped my weapon. I had no will to fight. I was about to get impaled… time to find out what happens when you die here.

A whistling sound whipped past my ear, and directly after, an arrow appeared in the enemy's neck. I turned to see Brett lowering his bow. He'd saved my life.

Eli came rushed over to me."You alright, Jon? Talk to me, man."

I snapped out of it. "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright. How's Christopher?"

Christopher appeared behind my friend, "I'm fine."

I nodded and retrieved my weapons. We turned to survey the battle. The Vikings were winning, no doubt. They were steadily pushing the Aztecs closer and closer towards the city. They'd taken up a new battle cry… I struggled to make out what they were all yelling. Then I got it.

"Mjolnir! Mjolnir! Mjolnir!"

I spotted Olaf Ironfoot striding proudly through his men, directly into the Aztec lines. He was holding a hammer that was inlaid with intricate carvings – the end of the weapon was huge, but the handle was barely large enough for Olaf to grip. I watched as four of the Mexica charged the king. He hit them all with one, sweeping blow. They didn't just go down – they flew at least fifteen feet back, bodies shattered from the impact. They were mere humans against the weapon of a god.

Then this moment of high morale came to an end. A shadow fell across us. No natural shadow, either. I felt my heart go cold and I got goose bumps. My hairs stood up on end. I looked to the tallest building in the city. There he was. Huitzilopochtli. I could just barely make him out. He was staring straight at us.

Then, he leapt from his perch at the top of the pyramid and swooped down towards the beach, gliding with the feathers of a bird. A black shadow of death bearing down upon us…


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter IX**

Huitzilopochtli was, without a doubt, the most terrifying thing I'd encountered as of yet in this place. More so than Loki, than Fenrir, the trolls, and even the giant serpent in the tunnels of the castle.

Physically, he wasn't all too scary. He looked like the average Aztec warrior – bare-chested, but painted blue and yellow on his face. He had a headdress of feathers, not to mention the wings of a bird. Oh, I almost forgot – he was also about thirty feet tall. That's right. He didn't seem to be carrying much in the way of weapons – a green, wriggling serpent in one hand and a smoking disc – a mirror – in the other.

No, what was truly so very terrifying to behold about Huitzilopochtli was the aura of fear that he gave off. He was evil – and not the maniacal kind of evil that Loki was – this cold, calculating, emptiness. Luckily for us, that evil was still a few hundred yards away, but rapidly approaching. I looked around and saw that everyone was just as worried as I was, even the "fearless" Vikings. Even the Aztecs backed up to give their incoming god some room.

Olaf, ever the brave warrior, stepped up, and raised Mjolnir in one mighty arm. Then he hurled the hammer with all his force. The weapon spun through the air and arced, homing in one the god like a missile. The god attempted to avoid it, but failed. It ended up striking him on the shoulder, and on cue, the sound of thunder was heard simultaneous with the impact. Huitzilopochtli's arm was literally torn off by the blow, and the appendage fell like a tree from the sky and landed on a few unlucky Aztecs, crushing them. Mjolnir returned to Olaf's hand.

Without the slightest cry of pain, the monster had now closed the distance and landed about fifty feet from Olaf.

"Who are you to defile my land?" The god's voice was booming.

Olaf was slightly nervous, I could tell. Nevertheless, he stepped forward and put his fist to his chest as he spoke, "I am King Olaf Ironfoot of the Vikings. We are on a mission to free Great Odin from unjust imprisonment."

There the slightest evidence of humor in Huitzilopochtli's voice, but his face retained that blank, emotionless stare. "You are brave, human. But that will not save you. Your heart will be mine."

With that, the god made his counterattack. With his remaining arm, he flung the smoking mirror like a Frisbee at Olaf. Olaf was fast, but not fast enough. He jumped to avoid the projectile, but it still ended up cleaving cleanly through one of his feet – the one that wasn't made of iron. But the worst damage was yet to come. Behind him, the disc continued on its flight. Right towards myself and my friends.

Eli saw it coming and yelled, "Sonuvabitch! Get down!"

I did as I was told – no heroic dive or dodging – I just flopped down, covered my head like the scared little kid that I was. I heard the weapon buzz over us, and looked back to make sure everyone else had ducked it. They had done so safely.

A considerable portion of the Viking army behind us wasn't so lucky. Some of them dodged it, yes, but others were cut down like grass under a lawnmower. Arms, legs, heads, all cut off – some of them were sliced cleanly in half. Finally, the mirror ended its terrible assault and arced back to its owner's hand.

We were mesmerized as Huitzilopochtli began to walk toward Olaf. The king threw the hammer again, but still reeling in pain from the loss of his foot, the attack was half-hearted and easily dodged. Then, in an act that will be eternally burned into my mind, the Aztec deity scooped up the king in one hand, and using the serpent to bite down on the king's lower half, he broke the mighty Viking in half with brute force, and then poured his bodily fluids, including his heart, down his throat. Then, he discarded the broken corpse like a used ragdoll. All of this, only twenty feet from us.

"Now!" Jalil yelled. Then, I realized that all of my friends were right there with me, even Jalil and David whom I'd lost track of. They must have been forming a plan. Thorolf was with us as well – I was glad to see that he was still among the living. The group of them – David, Jalil, Christopher, Thorolf, and Jayson rushed the god and began attacking him with their weapons – swords, axes, and a spear.

Eli, to my right, raised his carbine, placing that symbolic red dot on the god's chest. He began firing round after round into the god's upper torso. Brett, on the other side of me, began notching arrows and firing them as soon as he could.

Eli turned and saw me, standing there, dumbfounded, and yelled, "Fire your weapon, Jon!"

I snapped back to reality and, without hesitation, brought up my Makarov and unloaded my fresh mag into the center mass of our target. Now, any person seeing this onslaught would obviously think, _Nothing can survive that. _Yeah, well, that's what I thought, standing there with a smoking gun. Until I remembered Olaf's statement about the difficulties involved in killing gods. As I ran out of ammunition, I noticed that the guy wasn't bleeding. The blades of my friends bit deep into his flesh, sure, but no blood. Brett's arrows were protruding in a cluster from his shoulders and chest – the god nonchalantly swept the arrows with his hand, breaking the shafts of the arrows. Then there were more than a dozen of bullet holes that pockmarked the being's torso. The god seemed somewhat puzzled at those injuries, but not worried.

Now, in our defense, he didn't exactly take this in stride. He was quite weakened by our assault, that was for sure. But it wasn't enough. Maybe if we'd kept it up a bit longer, made it more intense… wait. There was one part of his body we hadn't attacked – his head. If it was as vital on gods as it was humans, we may just have a chance. But I was out of ammo, and I wasn't going to sting this guy with little .22's. I needed more firepower. I began to reach for Eli's .357. I never got to it.

The god, obviously done playing games with us, swept his hand across the beach, sending a torrent of sand at us. The wave knocked us on our collective asses, and we were quickly surrounded by the Aztecs. What was left of the Vikings were also captured.

As a spear point was jammed in front of Eli's face, he looked at the Aztec holding the weapon and said, "Listen here Tex-Mex, your sorry ass is lucky we ran out of bullets."

Same old Eli.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter X**

The battered and beaten remnants of an army, we were marched into the city and along the streets. The citizens of New Tenochtitlan were understandably upset with us – evidenced by the fact that they were throwing… well… crap at us. And yes, I do mean "crap" in the most literal sense. You know, I expected tomatoes to be flying around like in the olden days, but they were tossing what could've been a tomato after having passed through a person's system. I'm here to tell you – I would've preferred the tomatoes.

Luckily, I was well-protected in the center of the column and managed to duck the few "projectiles" that came at me. Jalil and Christopher got some of the crud in their hair. Finally, we got to a type of dome-shaped building. Had the Aztecs in the real world even discovered how to build domes? Ah, well, they had here. After being ushered inside with the rest of the captured Vikings, the massive doors behind us were pushed closed and sealed. The room we were in was pretty massive, with small, primitive beds laid out here and there. On the side were cubicle-shaped booths. Bathrooms. Or, at least, the ancient Aztec equivalent.

Almost immediately after we entered, Eli went at David. He grabbed him by his shirt and threw him against a nearby wall, causing him to grunt with the impact.

"You were supposed to stick to the plan!" My friend's voice was harsh.

"Didn't help much, now did it?" David shot back.

"I don't care – we almost got killed out there going after your sorry ass. Pull that shit again and I'll shoot you myself."

I'd never seen Eli that mad – but I knew he was just being overprotective of us. As far as he was concerned, we were his responsibility. It was a good thing that the Aztecs had taken some of our weapons, or else Eli might have shot the guy. David was angry too, but he also looked a bit guilty. So he hung his head and sat a ways away from the rest of us.

It was a gloomy situation for us – sitting in a circle in the quiet dome we were in. Jayson was wringing his hands – he was worried sick about Libby. It then occurred to me that I hadn't even spared a single thought since the beginning of the battle for the girls. I was ashamed – who knows if they were even still alive? They'd been left on the ships. Maybe it would have been better if they had come with us…

"I'm sure she's OK," My words to Jayson surprised even me. Brett and Eli agreed, though.

Jayson didn't seem much cheered up by them, though – he just slightly nodded.

David slowly began migrating back over towards our group. He began discussing tactics – he pointed out that the Aztecs had kept very little guard on us and the Vikings, and that at most times, we outnumbered them. If we were able to convince the Vikings to revolt, we could just possibly bust out.

Seemed logical enough. I looked around, and it hit me that this army would need a _lot _of convincing. Apparently, the Viking mindset was different from our own. If they were beaten, they were defeated emotionally and mentally as well as physically. They were acting so very emo, to put it into perspective for you. They moped around and sat with their heads hung. They didn't even consider escape as an option.

We all saw this, and as if on cue, we turned back slowly to face David, eyebrows raised.

"OK – we'll have to work on that," he conceded.

Christopher stood up. "Well, Napoleon, you keep planning, I'm gonna go wash this crap out of my hair."

Apparently, everyone (myself included) thought suddenly that bathing was a good idea – at least the Aztecs had the decency to erect some privacy barriers.

Minutes later, now clean, we gathered again. And we still didn't have a plan.

Not too much of a problem, considering that we were then visited again by the not-so friendly Aztec guards, and this time we were taken to a building resembling the Great Hall back in… I don't know, Viking Land?

Upon first entering this new structure, you would've thought that we were VIP's, not prisoners of war. Seriously.

There were tables and tables stacked high with fruit and roasted pig. And it didn't take long to notice the "company" that the Aztecs had seen fit to give to their Viking prisoners: some (questionably clothed) Aztec women – it didn't take long to guess their purpose. Mysteriously enough, the Vikings conveniently suddenly overcame their gloom and began partaking in all the pleasures the place had to offer.

As for us, we sat at our own table (which I promptly christened the "Cool Kids Table"); purposefully off to the side of the room, as to avoid drawing attention. Didn't work.

It wasn't long before the Aztec maidens approached us. They seemed rather offended by our rejection of their services. Well, all except for Christopher. He began chatting one of them up. Between large gulps of beer, that is.

David yanked him aside. "Are you trying to get drunk or just get laid?"

Christopher's tone was highly sarcastic, "Well, Stonewall, it happens to be my intention to do both."

"I don't think so," that was Jalil, helping to pull Christopher away while shooing the girls away. One of them didn't take too kindly to that and slapped him. Her friend produced a crude knife from under her dress.

I stepped forward, and pulled the baton from my pocket. I'd managed to avoid it getting confiscated by the Aztecs, probably because they didn't recognize it as a weapon, due to the fact that I'd had it collapsed.

"Walk away, gals," I said, in a falsely kind tone.

The one with the knife was rather confident of herself. "You didn't ask very kindly…"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Then, with a hard flick of the wrist, the baton shot out to its full length, with the same satisfying sound.

"Walk away, bitch," my tone was serious this time.

She was done playing games at the same time as me, so she took her friend and left. I turned back to face the group – their faces were a mix of surprise and humor.

"Crack the whip, huh, Jon? Or, the nightstick, actually," Jayson said.

I shrugged, "Golden Pimp keeps 'em in line, my friend," another inside joke between the two of us.

David called us all into a tight circle. Time to discuss a game plan.

"Alright, the Aztecs don't expect any trouble from the Vikings. That much is obvious. They've only got a few guards in here. If we're going to make a move, it better be now."

We agreed that it was worth a shot – we weren't sure why the Aztecs were treating us so well, but we really didn't want to find out. I was the only one that was armed. I had my baton and the stun gun. I handed the baton over to Eli (he'd always been jealous of it) and held onto the stun gun. Time to make our move. We began walking towards the two guards at the entrance.

I curved the weapon up, against the back of my arm to avoid it being visible. Approaching the first Aztec guard, who looked at me with interest, not caution, not anger, I made my move. I brought the device out and jammed it into his sternum, clicking the initiator button at the same time. Blue sparks flew, and the Aztec went down hard. I turned in time to see Eli's target hit the ground, knocked out cold.

"Let's go!" Christopher yelled. As I began to run out the door, I felt a tug on the leg of my blue jeans. I looked down – my guard was still conscious! I tried to yank my foot away as he raised his crude blade to plunge it into the back of my calf. Then, out of nowhere, a tennis-shoe clad foot kicked my attacker in the back of the head, KO'ing him cleanly. It was David, who then quickly grabbed the blade from the unconscious form.

"Thanks,"

He nodded. The seven of us regrouped outside and began running, hearing the yells of Aztecs all around us in the dark.

David's voice rang out, "Look! It's Senna!"

He pointed off to a side alley. I saw a wisp of blond hair and a shadow of movement, and when I tried to focus on it, it was gone.

"David, it can't be—" Jalil began.

"C'mon, she wants us to follow her!" David cut him off.

With that, he sprinted into the alley, and, without a better idea, we followed him – Aztecs hot on our trail. We followed this path for several feet in near-pitch blackness. Then, a loud thud was heard as David got to a wall, and Christopher didn't stop, slamming into him. A dead end.

There was a heavy door to our left. We tried to pull it open – no dice. It was sealed shut. We were trapped.

David looked confused, "She must've…"

He was silenced as the Aztecs entered the alleyway, cutting off our escape route.

"Oh, well, back to the party." Brett commented.

Our remaining weapons were confiscated after the escape attempt, and the number of guards escorting ourselves and the Vikings doubled as we were returned back to the dome. We didn't make anymore plans. We didn't even talk to each other. We just went to sleep. And that didn't last long, because a new group of unsavory characters entered the structure.

They were unsettling to behold – torn, long, black robes with hoods. They had crude piercings all over their faces – through their nose, lips, everywhere. Priests. They began to pick Vikings out of the crowd. It didn't take long to figure out for what – we overheard a few Vikings discussing it. Those chosen would be taken to the tall pyramid, have their hearts cut out, and while it was still beating, it would be fed to Huitzilopochtli. That's why they treated us so well – I guess a happy heart was more delectable to "Big H" (a name Christopher had supplied and we all came to use).

The priests pointed at different Norsemen, who were promptly hauled to their feet out of the dome by some particularly muscular Aztec guards. Then, out of nowhere, one of the priests pointed at Jayson.

"Him. He will go."

David stood. "If he goes, we go, too." The guards looked at David threateningly and approached.

The priest raised a hand to cease the guards' action. "No, no, it's alright. If they wish to go as well, then so be it. More hearts to our lord."

I looked to Eli. "Oh, this'll be _fun_!" Brett and I said with false enthusiasm.

He shook his head and said in an undertone, "I'll think of something."

As we were ushered out of the dome and into the street, I replied, "Might want to hurry with that, Delta."

We were marched to the great pyramid in the center of the city and to the steps. There, we were put into a line that was more than a hundred Vikings long, single file. This line went all the way up the stairs to the open area at the top – I remembered that as where Big H had stayed. Every few seconds, the body of a Viking, with a bleeding, gaping hole in his chest, would roll down the stairs lifelessly. Dried blood coated the stairs, making them sticky. The stench was terrible. Priestesses lined the steps, and above them, the priests.

The line moved rather slowly, I'd scale one stair every ten seconds, and there were a_ lot _of steps. Not that I was complaining – I wanted to stay as far down the line as I could.

Minutes later, we approached the top of the great structure. There he was – Big H, at the back of the top area, seated in his throne, a smirk on his face. His arm was still gone. His top priests surrounded him. In front, a stone slab slathered with blood. The next Viking in line was placed on the slab; the terror in his eyes was obvious. The knife came down, plunging into his chest with a sickening sound. I looked away. Fear took me – I imagined what it would feel like to have the dagger sink into my chest, and my heart torn out. I wanted someone to do something, anything. I didn't want to die like this. Not like this.

"Interesting. His arm hasn't healed. So even gods have limits…" That was Jalil.

"Uh, I think we have bigger things to worry about," Christopher, of course.

"Hey…"

That's when Jayson nudged me. He barely gestured with his head at a group of three priestesses a few steps ahead of us, in a tight clump. One was only about four and a half feet tall. One had brown eyes, and a streak of highlights flashed in my vision as she raised her head and smiled at us from under her hood. And the final one – I saw shining green eyes and quick glimpse of red hair. The girls were here.

Kelsey looked around to make sure no one else saw and slid something from her sleeve into her hand. My pistol. I nodded almost imperceptibly. April signaled to David, cocking her head towards a pedestal near Huitzilopochtli. There it was. Our only hope. Mjolnir. It was now David's turn. He got to the top step, and I noticed the girls reaching into their robes, grasping unseen weapons.

"Now!" David yelled.

April threw off her robe, revealing the load of Viking weapons she had hidden. She tossed a sword to David and Jalil, and an axe to Christopher. Kelsey pulled Eli's carbine out from under her robe where it had been hanging on its sling, and tossed it to him. He caught it expertly, checked the action, flipped on the laser-sight, and began firing. She also tossed me my two pistols. I caught one in each hand, and I could tell by their weight that they were loaded. Libby pulled a club from her robe, tossed it to Jayson, and then threw the rest of us our remaining weapons.

I raised my Makarov at the nearest Aztec and fired, catching him in the neck with the 9x18mm round. Blood sprayed and he went down hard. One of the priests made a move towards Kelsey. Libby stepped in and plunged a dagger into his ribs. With a yell, Kelsey grabbed the wounded man and threw him from the pyramid steps. He screamed as he fell. April tossed a rock at an approaching attacker. The stone pegged him in the face.

Our gunfire confused many of the Aztecs as we blazed our way to the hammer. That was our objective – Mjolnir was our only real defense against Big H, and it was the one thing that could rally the Vikings to our aid.

April and I went for the hammer – the others held their ground at the top of the stairs, covering us.

David wielded his sword well – he had learned quickly how to use the weapon. He sliced one approaching Aztec across the neck and kicked him down the steps, then smashed another over the head with the hilt of his sword. Jalil had a short sword in one hand and his pocketknife in the other, slicing wildly at anyone who got close. I watched as Christopher chopped at an attacker with his axe – the man's head separated and fell to the ground, followed by the body. The girls stuck together, using a variety of weapons to hold the flanks. Jayson was throwing rocks rapidly downwards, and any target that got too near received a blow from his club. Brett had retrieved his bow, and was putting it to deadly use, firing arrow after arrow downwards into approaching enemies. Eli was beside him, gun blazing, lasersight beaming here and there. An Aztec managed to keep coming after taking a round, so Eli used his rifle-butt to strike the man, knocking him back down the stairs.

April had grabbed Mjolnir. "Here!" she yelled, and tossed it to me. I caught the weapon – it was heavy. I could literally feel the power it had. I hesitated for a moment. Should I attack Big H? No. We had to rally the Vikings, and besides, I didn't trust myself with the hammer. I called out and tossed the weapon to a surprised Christopher, who caught it.

He shrugged, and raised the weapon into the air.

"C'mon, you pansies! This is Mighty Thor's hammer! Now, let's go kick some Aztec ass!"

That did it. The Vikings began cheering, and then attacked the nearest Aztec they could get their hands on. That's when I saw a shadow pass over me, and felt a whoosh of air. Huitzilopochtli landed five yards in front of me, behind Christopher.

Big H's facial expression as he looked down on the person who now held the hammer said it all: _Your ass is mine._

"Christopher!" I yelled, rushing forwards, firing at the same time. Not the best for accuracy, but Big H was hard to miss. I managed to burn half a mag into the god's back before he got angry and backhanded me.

It felt I'd run into a brick wall. The blow knocked the air out of me and sent my flying backwards, into the sacrificial slab. I hit the ground, my pistol sliding out of reach. Pain flooded through my back. However, Christopher had heard my warning and turned to face the god. He threw the hammer wildly, which struck his target on the shoulder. The god wobbled like a drunk, then fell forward, nearly crushing my friends and actually crushing some Aztecs. Was he dead? I didn't know, and I so didn't care. He was down, and that's all that mattered for now.

As my vision cleared, I saw a previously unnoticed priest approaching me, knife in hand. My gun was out of reach, and I was helpless, on the ground. I pulled the KA-BAR and the baton out, extending the baton, all while laying on the ground, unable to move. He lashed out with the knife, and I made an X with the knife and baton, blocking the blow.

"Help!" I yelled. Then, out of nowhere, a blade was pushed through the man's torso from behind. He gasped with pain, and fell over. April. She helped me to my feet and I thanked her as I caught my breath.

"You alright? That was one hell of a hit."

I felt OK – no broken spine. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

Christopher handed Mjolnir off to Thorolf, who had made his way up to us. Then, David yelled for us to regroup, and we took off down the pyramid steps together, into the street, and out of the city, battle raging behind us.

Vikings rallied, Mjolnir retrieved, Big H down. Mission accomplished. Not to mention, the fact that we were all still alive was a definite bonus in my book…


End file.
